arts and design

Paper Stages review – a theatrical DIY kit to act out at home

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orest Fringe have never been one for convention. The risk-taking trio of Andy Field, Ira Brand and Deborah Pearson run the organisation, best loved for a decade of generous, sky-cracking experimental shows made and programmed during Edinburgh fringe. In true fashion, their latest festival evades regular theatrical labelling.

Paper Stages is a collection of written propositions and performances. Made by 10 artists for audiences to engage with and act out at home, it comes in the form of a free download and reads like a jazzed-up instruction manual. Toying with how we define performance on paper, these works encourage reflection, pre-lockdown nostalgia and a vivid sense of playfulness.

In 2013, Forest Fringe lost the building they had previously used for their work in Edinburgh. Having to make do without physical walls, they made the first edition of Paper Stages, with games and instructions to be played and performed around the city. Eight years later, this second edition comes as our own four walls are pretty much all we’re allowed to see.

If you’re isolated with someone else, the most fun piece to enact is She Goat’s three-day long game of hide and seek, which ends with a melodramatic scripted phone call. If quarantined alone, cast yourself as the star in Selina Thompson’s hilarious Big Night Out. Recreating a woozy, cramped taxi drive in the back of your wardrobe, Thompson plays with sweaty nostalgia in a way that leaves you satisfied rather than longing for long-lost clubs.

Framed by Will Brady’s sharp design, the pages are black, white and egg-yolk yellow with stylish architectural illustrations. The lively snippets of text feel both intimate and bountiful. A few pieces may skim over your head, though most are firmly grounded. Some are easier to realise than others; Harry Josephine Giles’s tongue-in-cheek piece, 14 Ways to Reread a Favourite Novel, offers a series of instructions before demanding hopefully: “Repeat until things are better.”

In these lonely times, Paper Stages is both a gentle distraction and a healthy dose of reckless joy. It is also fuelled by a generosity of spirit – while it’s free to download, the team ask for one form of payment: an hour of your time to help somebody else who needs it. Worth the entry price alone.

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